


For Richer or for Poorer

by MrToddWilkins



Series: The Empire of Liberty, and the tales thereof [4]
Category: For Better or For Worse (Comics)
Genre: 2010s life, Barbecue, Brian’s the gay one in this universe, Crack Treated Seriously, Education, Elly Patterson Critical, Elly just needs to learn to check her privilege, Expanded States of America, Fourth of July, Good Anthony Caine, Good Howard Bunt, Liz never broke up with Anthony and he never married Therese, May/September Relationship, Maybe longer, Medium Length, Parent-Teacher Conference, Past minor character death, Second Chances, Sequel to Canon, Step-parents, Veterinarian April Patterson, Vets, alternate foob canon, and Francie is her kid, but no bashing, crack ships, dance culture, er - Freeform, gerontological treatments, in this house we ship Lizthony, references, vet school, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26667589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrToddWilkins/pseuds/MrToddWilkins
Relationships: Allyson Creemore/Lawrence Poirier, Anthony Caine/Elizabeth Patterson, Becky McGuire/John Patterson, Duncan Anderson/April Patterson, Françoise "Francie" Caine/Robin Patterson, Gerald Forsythe/Jenna Middleton, Howard Bunt/Karen McGuire, Kortney Krelbutz/Thorvald McGuire, Meredith Patterson/Paul Mayes (For Better or For Worse), Michael Patterson/Deanna Sobinski
Series: The Empire of Liberty, and the tales thereof [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009461





	1. Elizabeth I

Date: 1 April 2015, 1200 hrs  
Location: Milborough, Ontario, USA.  
  
Looking back on the whole affair, Liz Caine would marvel at how much and how little a newspaper article, blog entry or television story actually said about an issue. There she was, looking at the Suburban Section of the Toronto Gazette reading a tidy little article with the headline Milborough Elementary School To Adopt Uniforms Despite Controversy that had managed to make the whole sordid mess look bland and beige and boring. You would have thought that it was a tidy little spat between one group of parents who politely disagreed with a proposal that really didn't affect them one way or another with a group that wanted the reform to take place. This might actually have happened in any other community wherein the idea of school uniforms was being vetted. The problem is that those communities were not blessed with a Delicate Genius and his family. To think that Dad thought Mike had learned his lesson about making a public fool of himself when he stupidly let himself get talked into protesting a very gradual increase in bus fares. Mike did not learn things because learning things is the humiliation of admitting that someone as great and good and important and beloved as he is could possibly be rather ignorant.  
  
That being said, she should have expected something stupid like that when the whole thing started. As far as she knew, she was first to know about the proposal to adopt school uniforms for the elementary and middle schools in the local school district because even substitute teachers like her were required to attend big policy meetings that introduced big changes. This pleased her because it was so rare that she was the first to find out about anything that went on around her. She remembered how angry she was when Mom had finally gotten around to telling her that Michael and Deanna were a married couple nine months before she was part of what she thought was their real wedding party. Oh, she could sort of get behind the reason because she knew how much her parents hated Mike's mother in law. She could tolerate the fact that Grandpa Jim and April knew. She could even accept it when Gordon said "We thought that you knew and if you didn't, it was because telling you slipped our minds"; what she couldn't accept was the lack of trust behind it 'slipping' their minds. To be fair, it might actually have been that she'd have been so outraged, she'd have made a royal mess of things. To _not_ be fair, it irritated her to be seen as a shrill idiot who can't shut up.  
  
That being said, it amazed her how calm everyone at home was about the proposal when she'd discussed it over breakfast the following morning. Aside from pointing out that parents sort of owed it to kids to teach them that sooner or later, they had to dress how the man expected them to, Anthony had made a sort of witty aside about the whole thing being the result of peer pressure. After all, all of the other schools are doing it, so they felt as if they had no choice. This, of course, had nothing to do with the regrettable phase he'd gone through when he was in University. There was no connection between his wincing at how he used to dress when he was twenty and his desire to help children get used to corporate casual, no way, yeah right. Ah. At least he grew out of it. Dad never did.  
  
Speaking of her parents, Mom was behind it all the way because it always bothered her that Liz had to be made to feel bad about what other children were wearing. Well, that and the fact that it used to bug her that some kid called the shots and reminded her of her feeling of absolute powerlessness. At least she was finally honest about that last bit. It helped a lot when Therese Arsenault freaked out when Francoise had dyed her hair to match the color of her favourite Space Babe like a lot of her classmates her doing. Terri (as she'd asked to be called now) assumed that Liz was stupid enough to join the pageant scene like Deanna and thought magenta hair was a gateway drug to tiaras and hooker culture.  
  
Speaking of the kids, Francie and Robbie were even okay with it because they said that they liked the uniforms that were being proposed and didn't much like being treated like second class citizens by showy types who thought that the class-room was their own catwalk. This should have been a warning to Liz about what direction the angry screaming about 'fascism in the hallways' was going to be coming from but for the moment, she felt good about how little noise was being made. It was not to last.


	2. Michael I

Date: 18 April 2015, 1000 hrs

Location: the Pattermanse

It's not every day that one picks up a newsmagazine expecting to find some nice garden ideas,and instead sees naked pictures of one's younger sister,but the latter was currently happening to Michael Patterson. The pictures were under a bold,brassy sort of headline that read "April Anderson - behind the Columbian vet and sometime nudist who's helping pioneer biodynamics". In one of them April,wearing only a sunhat and smile, was crouching over a row of potato plants,arranged as in dutiful obeisance before a king. Another depicted her lying down on a sofa,legs demurely positioned so as to hide her pussy from sight,a cat-like grin on her face. In a third,she and a similarly naked Dunc sat at opposite ends of their dining room table,both of them giving a thumbs-up to the camera. Michael found himself laughing at how awkward she looked.

Robert,the elder of his two sons,came in from the sunroom. "What's so funny,Dad?"

"Your Aunt April. She's-"

"I know. Uncle Duncan texted me with the pictures. This has to be one of the best things she's done."

Michael tilted his head. "How so?"

"She's a free spirit,isn't she? You always bring up some example or other of her individualism. Dating (and then marrying) a black guy, which is something Gramma Elly'd look down on."

"Not quite. She likes Duncan,at least enough that she attended their wedding last year.” Since Elly and John had gotten a divorce back in 2011,the reason being that they had different priorities (a rather ridiculous reason in Mike’s opinion),Elly had gotten a bit more circumspective as the years went on. She was dating Ted McCauley,John’s old office-mate who had lived with his mother for much of his life. John,so far as Mike knew,hadn’t yet re-entered the dating scene. He seemed determined to be an elderly bachelor. He had finally retired from his dental practice the year after the divorce and now wrote for model train magazines. It was Mike’s understanding that he was writing a sci-fi story collection on the side.

”She looks pretty”, Rob grinned,smoothing out the pictures of his favorite auntie.

”Yes,she does”, Mike agreed. 


	3. Interlude I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a flashback scene to April and Duncan’s wedding the previous year to establish the family’s opinion of him and stuff
> 
> And because I wanted to write about April getting married :)

_Date: 22 June 2014, 0900 hrs_

_Location: St Andrew’s in the Glen, Mississauga_

_The eldest of John and Elly Patterson’s three children had gotten married at St.Andrew’s in the Glen,so it was only appropriate that more than a decade later their youngest tied the knot there as well,Michael thought as he watched April process down the aisle. She was arm-in-arm with John,smiling her usual radiant grin. Behind her trailed her bridesmaids. April had decided to keep it in the family. Naturally,Liz was her matron of honor:joining her were Deanna,Mike’s daughter (and thusly her niece) Merry,Anthony’s daughter Françoise,her friend Becky,their aunt Georgia,and their cousin Laura. Duncan was joined by Gerald as his best man (so all their bandmates were part of the wedding), his dad Dan,Anthony’s brother Gavin,and some people Mike assumed were their friends. Gerald’s girlfriend Jenna’s sister,Abbie Middleton,was the flower girl,and Mike’s younger son Jason was the ring bearer.  
_

_It wasn’t surprising that St Andrew’s had changed from how Mike remembered it from his own wedding to Dee. Father Rochambeau had retired:in his place was an Ouisconsinite named Teddy Fremont. The church had been renovated about ten years previously,resulting in the addition of an improved sound system and better pews. The Sun shone brightly through new windowpanes as April approached her husband-to-be._

_The ceremony began,steeped in the rituals of the American Anglican Church. A hymn was sung,and then another. Robert read from the Book of Corinthians,the same verse Tracey had read when Mike married Deanna. Father Fremont gave a brief homily. Then April and Duncan faced each other. Their vows began:_

_"I,April Patterson,take you,Duncan Anderson, to be my husband,from this day forward,for better or worse,for richer or poorer,in sickness and health,to love and cherish,so long as we both shall live. All this I vow and promise."_

_Duncan repeated the same but with their names swapped. Rings were exchanged. And before Mike quite knew it,Father Fremont declared April and Duncan to be husband and wife,and that he could kiss her. A storm of applause ensued from both sides of the aisle, and Mendelssohn’s march followed them out of the church._ _The garter was tossed by April,landing squarely in Jenna’s hands. A cheer went up,begun by April._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ouisconsin - OTL Wisconsin + the Upper Peninsula


End file.
